Australia Silver Florin 1943 S

This silver Florin is a bit toned, but still in pretty good shape. There is wear on King George’s hair & the emu on the reverse, so I would grade this not-quite-EF. I’d call it VF30.

On the obverse, the florin has a leftward facing bust of George the 6th of England. He is shown bareheaded, and looks quite youthful. The legend reads “GEORGIVS VI : D : G : BR : OMN : REX F : D : IND : IMP”. The British love their abbreviation, right? Note that some of the letters we would normally use are replaced with others – ie; V instead of U because the Roman alphabet did not have those letters. This stands for George the Sixth, Dei Gratia (by the grace of god), Britanniarum Omnium Rex (King of all the Brittons), Fidei Defensor (defender of the faith), India Imperator (Emperor of India).

Australia, silver 1 Florin 1943 S Coin

The reverse shows the Australian coat of arms. This is a shield flanked by a Kangaroo on the left and an Emu on the right, with a scroll below. The shield has six inescutcheons representing the Australian states of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia, and South Australia. Ontop of the shield is a royal crown with six sided stars to either side. . The scroll reads “Advance Australia”. The legend on the coin reads “FLORIN” with the date below the crest, and the mint mark just above.

Australia, silver 1 Florin 1943 S Coin reverse

Identification code: Australia KM-40

Date: 1940

Mint Mark: S (San Francisco, California Mint)

Mintage: 11,000,000

Country of origin: United States – minted on behalf of Australia

Composition: 92.5% silver

Size: 28.5 mm diameter

Weight: 11.31g (0.3363 oz ASW)

Other details: A LOT of these came back to the United States along with GI’s coming back at the tail end of World War II.